Archive for the ‘Diversity’ Category

(CNN editorial, Van Jones) – Google, Yahoo, LinkedIn and Facebook have all releasedtheir workforce diversity reports in the past few weeks. These reports have sparked much hand-wringing about the low number of African-Americans and Latinos who are working in Silicon Valley tech companies. We expect to see a tide of more reports, illustrating a dismal situation needing attention.

Tech companies need more workers, and African-American and Latino communities need more work. Silicon Valley has an insatiable demand for genius. Communities of color have an untapped supply of it. Putting aside any blaming or shaming, tech leaders and communities of color could greatly benefit by coming together — to ensure that America stops wasting so much genius. Neither Silicon Valley nor low-opportunity communities can afford it anymore.

For instance: 70% of "Googlers" are men, 30% women; 61% are white and 30% are Asian. Blacks and Hispanics? Only 2% and 3%, respectively. Google's May 2014 report could best be summed up with the company's own words: "We're not where we want to be."

(ThinkProgress) The Sunday political talk shows have drawn repeated criticism for filling their lineups with disproportionately white, male guests. But if this week’s lineup is any indication, the shows aren’t working too hard to fix the disparity.

Between CNN, Fox, CBS, NBC, and ABC this Sunday, there were no women or people of color featured as the main, solo interviews of the show. Even in the roundtable discussions that follow the featured interviews, the participants were unrepresentative: Eight women joined the roundtables, while 15 men were part of the conversation.

Of the 38 total guests between the one-on-one interviews and the roundtables, there were five people of color. None of the shows had on more than two women, or more than two non-white guests.

The lack of diversity is simultaneously most and least surprising on a week in which foreign policy has dominated the news cycle. All of the shows featured discussion of the ongoing unrest in Iraq. And while international news may seem like an area ripe for diverse perspectives, the U.S. foreign policy establishment is overwhelmingly male.

(Mashable.com) LinkedIn released employee demographic data for the first time on Thursday, revealing a workforce that is mostly male, and mostly white.

Of LinkedIn's 5400-plus total employees, 61% are male, and CEO Jeff Weiner said Thursday atThomas Friedman's Next New World Conference in San Francisco that 82% of the company's tech positions are currently filled by men. Ethnically speaking, 53% of LinkedIn's U.S. workforce is white, and 38% is Asian.

(Washington Post) A group of prominent black men — 210 so far — have written an open letter to President Obama, asking that he consider the plight of young women of color in tandem with his administration’s focus on young men of color. Signed by scholars, ministers and activists, the letter comes as the White House announced this week that former basketball star and entrepreneur Earvin “Magic” Johnson will co-chair “My Brother’s Keeper,” a $200 million public- and private-sector effort that will direct resources to black and Hispanic boys.

The signers of the letter, among them actor Danny Glover and civil rights activist James M. Lawson and leading academics, write to Obama that they were “were surprised and disappointed that your commitments express empathy to only half of our community — men and boys of color.”

We write as African American men who have supported your presidency, stood behind you when the inevitable racist challenges to your authority have emerged, and have understood that our hopes would be tempered by the political realities that you would encounter. While we continue to support your presidency, we write both out of a sense of mutual respect and personal responsibility to address what we believe to be the unfortunate missteps in the My Brothers Keeper initiative (MBK). In short, in lifting up only the challenges that face males of color, MBK — in the absence of any comparable initiative for females — forces us to ask where the complex lives of Black women and Black girls fit into the White House’s vision of racial justice?

(QZ.com) An editorial in the Chinese financial magazine Caixin points out another potential obstacle for Asian Americans trying to get into college: hundreds of thousands of wealthy Chinese students that are flocking to US schools every year.

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American universities, especially elite schools, have been suspected of admitting a disproportionately low number of Asian American students given their high test scores and academic performance. Over the past five to six years, these schools—faced with less private and public funding—have also started depending on international students who pay full tuition to pick up the bill. “Asian Americans now face a double barrier to entry at US universities,” writes the Caixin author Wu Yuci.

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Of this pack of international students, Chinese nationals are leading the charge. As China’s economy has developed, more wealthy families are choosing to send their children to American schools. (The daughter of current Chinese president Xi Jinping attends Harvard under a pseudonym, and the son of deposed Chinese official Bo Xilai attended Columbia and Harvard.)

"In the wake of Donald Sterling's alleged defamatory and intolerable comments we have decided to suspend our sponsorship with the L.A. Clippers until the NBA completes its investigation. We fully support the players and fans of the L.A. Clippers and wish them the best in the remainder of the playoffs."

(Examiner.com) The United States Army, as with all other branches of the military, has always upheld specific regulations regardinggrooming for their male and female service personnel. Every so often those rules are revisited as styles and personal choices of appearance change over time.

USA Today on April 1 released a news story whereAfrican American female troops are claiming racial bias to the new grooming regulations. Their claims and voice are causing an outcry within the local ranks as well as worldwide. They are asking, through a petition to the White House, that the hairstyles undergo some reconsideration to allow more ethnic styles that are still considered professional and popular among the African American military personnel.

The Army Timesreports that the new grooming regulations aren’t specific to just allowable hairstyles. The new rules also establish tougher rules regarding makeup, fingernail length, tattoos, as well as how uniforms should be worn. The rules that are being implemented for tattoos, is the section with the strictest guidelines.